Strategies & tactics
There is no best range. There is the range that matches your goal, your patience and how often you will check. This page gives you a way to choose, a playbook of common approaches, and the routines that keep them from going wrong.
Start with your goal
| If you want to… | Think about… | Typical shape |
|---|---|---|
| Learn how it works | A tiny amount and a wide range you can leave alone. | Wide, small size |
| Earn fees with little effort | A range that rarely goes out of range, accepting lower fee density. | Wide or balanced |
| Earn more and accept more work | Narrower ranges, checked often, re-set when needed. | Tight, active |
| Provide liquidity for a stable pair | A very narrow range around the peg, on the lowest-fee tier. | Very tight, stable pair |
| Sell or buy at a target price | A one-sided range at your price, treated as a limit order. | Range order |
| Spread your bets | Several positions at different prices instead of one. | Ladder |
Choosing a range: three questions
- How far do I expect the price to travel while I hold? If you have no view, a wider range is the honest choice.
- How often will I look? A tight range is only worth it if you will actually watch it. An out-of-range position earns nothing.
- What can I afford to lose if I am wrong? Narrow ranges amplify the impact of price moves in both directions.
The table below shows what each width trades. Efficiency is how much more concentrated the same money is than full range.
| Style | Efficiency | Time in range | Attention needed | Sensitivity to price moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full range | 1× | Always | None | Lowest |
| Wide ±50% | ≈ 4.2× | Usually | Occasional | Low |
| Balanced ±25% | ≈ 8.3× | Often | Weekly | Moderate |
| Balanced ±10% | ≈ 20.4× | Sometimes | Weekly to daily | High |
| Tight ±5% | ≈ 40.5× | Often out | Daily | Very high |
| Very tight ±1% | ≈ 200× | Mostly out unless the price is very stable | Constant | Extreme |
“Selecting a wider range may generate more fees if there is price churn within your range, at the cost of increasing the risk of having your order unfilled if the spot price reverses before completing your full range.”
The playbook
Each play below is an idea with its main risk. Numbers are illustrations at an ETH price of 2,500 USDC.
1. Wide and patient
Lowest effort- Idea
- Provide over a very wide band so the price almost never leaves it, and check rarely.
- Setup
- A range of roughly ±50% (1,250 to 3,750). In Self-Quantum Liquidity, the ±50% preset.
- Why
- Fewer decisions, rarely out of range, small gas costs, easy to hold through volatility.
- Main risk
- Fee earnings per dollar are low because capital is spread thin. You still follow the price of the assets up and down.
- Good for
- First positions, long horizons, people who will not watch daily.
2. Balanced
Middle ground- Idea
- Concentrate to earn noticeably more per dollar, while keeping room for normal day-to-day movement.
- Setup
- A range of ±10% to ±25% around the current price. The ±10% and ±25% presets.
- Why
- A good balance of fee density and staying power for liquid pairs.
- Main risk
- A strong trend carries the price out of the range within days or weeks. Then you hold one asset and earn nothing.
- Good for
- People who check weekly and accept having to decide what to do when it goes out of range.
3. Tight and active
High effort- Idea
- Use very narrow ranges to capture the most fees per dollar, and re-centre them often.
- Setup
- ±1% to ±5%. A low fee tier (0.05%) with small tick spacing allows fine control.
- Why
- Highest fee density while in range.
- Main risk
- Constant monitoring, frequent gas and swap costs, and high exposure to impermanent loss. It is easy to end up worse than holding. Rebalancing crystallises losses.
- Good for
- Experienced providers with tools, low-fee networks and a clear process. Not a first strategy.
4. Stablecoin pair
Special case- Idea
- Two assets meant to stay at the same price can be concentrated very tightly, because the price rarely moves.
- Setup
- A band around 1.00, for example 0.99 to 1.01, on the 0.01% tier.
- Why
- The Uniswap docs highlight this as the case where concentration helps most (see the quote in Concepts).
- Main risk
- A depeg. If one stablecoin loses its peg, the pool converts your position into the weaker coin. This is the single biggest risk of the strategy.
- Check first
- Which stablecoins, who issues them, and whether you are comfortable holding either in a stress event.
5. A ladder
Diversify price levels- Idea
- Split your capital into several positions with different ranges instead of one range.
- Setup
- For example three equal positions: ±10% around today, and two wider bands lower and higher. You create them one at a time.
- Why
- You are never fully out of range, and you are not betting everything on one prediction.
- Main risk
- More positions mean more transactions, more gas and more to monitor.
- Note
- Self-Quantum Liquidity creates ranges around the current price today, so a ladder built from Self-Quantum Liquidity means several positions of different widths.
6. Take-profit range order
Limit-order style- Idea
- Provide only the asset you want to sell, in a range above today's price. As the price crosses the range, it sells for the other asset, and you collect fees along the way.
- Setup
- Hold ETH. Provide ETH in a band such as 2,800 to 3,200 while the price is 2,500. This needs a tool that supports one-sided ranges.
- Main risk
- If the price crosses your range and then turns back, you may end up with part of your order unfilled.
- In Self-Quantum Liquidity
- Not creatable yet. The Builder makes ranges that straddle the current price. You can read range-order positions on the Positions tab.
“range orders, unlike traditional limit orders, will be unfilled if the spot price crosses the given range and then reverses to recross in the opposite direction before the target asset is withdrawn.”
7. Buy-the-dip range order
Limit-order style- Idea
- The mirror image: provide USDC in a band below today's price. If the price falls through it, your USDC converts into ETH at prices you chose.
- Setup
- Provide USDC in a band such as 2,000 to 2,200 while the price is 2,500.
- Main risk
- You buy while the price is falling, and it may keep falling. Only do this for an asset you are happy to own at those prices.
- In Self-Quantum Liquidity
- Not creatable yet, as above.
8. Scale in
Reduce timing risk- Idea
- Instead of one large entry, add to your position in several small steps over days or weeks.
- Setup
- Create a first small position to learn, then add more positions as you gain confidence.
- Why
- Averages your entry price and limits the damage of a bad first move.
- Main risk
- Gas costs accumulate. Prefer low-fee networks for frequent small steps.
Fee tier and pool tactics
- Start with the deepest pool for the pair. The Pools tab sorts by TVL so it appears first. Deeper pools usually mean tighter prices for traders and most of the volume.
- Compare tiers. A lower tier collects less per trade but may attract more trades. A higher tier collects more per trade from less volume. You cannot know which is better in advance; observe.
- Cross-check the price. A pool whose price is far from the others on the same pair is stale or thin. Avoid it.
- Avoid thin pools for size. If your position would be a large share of a pool, your own moves affect the price and exiting is harder.
- Prefer cheap networks for active strategies. The more often you adjust, the more the cost of gas matters.
“LP fee income depends on two factors: how much liquidity you provide, and how well your chosen range tracks the market price.”
What a bad month looks like
Fees are only half of the story. These are the exact v3 numbers for an ETH/USDC position that starts at value 1.00 when the price is in the middle of the range, ignoring fees. Check how each range copes with the price halving or doubling.
| Range | Efficiency | Value if ETH halves | …vs holding | Value if ETH doubles | …vs holding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full range (v2 style) | 1× | 0.71 | -5.7% | 1.41 | -5.7% |
| Wide ±50% | ≈ 4.2× | 0.63 | -22.3% | 1.09 | -21.6% |
| Balanced ±25% | ≈ 8.3× | 0.54 | -30.3% | 1.05 | -27.0% |
| Balanced ±10% | ≈ 20.4× | 0.51 | -32.5% | 1.02 | -30.7% |
| Tight ±5% | ≈ 40.5× | 0.51 | -33.0% | 1.01 | -32.0% |
| Very tight ±1% | ≈ 200.5× | 0.50 | -33.3% | 1.00 | -33.1% |
- Value is what the position is worth compared with 1.00 at the start. It falls when the price falls, even in a full-range position: you hold some ETH.
- vs holding is the impermanent loss: how much worse than just keeping the tokens.
- A narrow range ends fully in one asset when the price leaves it. After a crash you hold only the falling asset; after a rally you hold only the stable one and miss the rest of the move.
How much fee income do I need?
Over 30 days, a +10% price move costs the following versus holding (per $1,000). The last column is the fee APR needed just to break even over that period. It is an input to your thinking, not a prediction of what the pool pays.
| Range | vs holding | On $1,000 | Fee APR needed to offset |
|---|---|---|---|
| ±50% | -0.48% | $-5 | 6% |
| ±25% | -0.95% | $-10 | 12% |
| ±10% | -2.32% | $-23 | 28% |
| ±5% | -3.50% | $-35 | 43% |
Use the calculators in Concepts to try your own numbers.
Position sizing and risk budget
- Decide the loss you can accept before you start, in money, not percent.
- Size the position so the stress table above is bearable. Look at the column for the range you chose: that is the position value at half or double the price.
- Do not provide your whole position in one asset you cannot afford to see fall. Providing ETH to an ETH/USDC pool still means you are exposed to ETH.
- Keep gas reserves so you can always exit or revoke.
- Start small. A tiny first position teaches you more than a large one and costs less when you make a mistake.
A monitoring routine
The better your routine, the less you rely on luck. Match the cadence to the range.
| Range style | How often to look | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Wide ±50% / full range | Monthly | Status, any large news about the assets, approvals. |
| Balanced ±10–25% | Weekly | Is the price near an edge? What would I do if it crosses? |
| Tight ±1–5% | Daily or more | Status, distance from the edge, cost of re-centering. |
- Open the Positions tab and read my address.
- Is the status IN RANGE? If not, since when?
- How far is the price from each edge on the axis?
- Are owed fees worth the gas to collect yet?
- Do I still believe my reason for this range?
- Am I about to act because of the data or because of a feeling?
- Any new approvals or unusual activity on the wallet?
When it goes out of range
- Wait. The price may come back. Doing nothing is a valid choice and costs nothing.
- Adjust. Withdraw and create a new range around today's price. This costs gas, may involve swapping, and turns paper loss into real loss.
- Withdraw. If your reason for providing is gone, take the tokens and stop.
Rebalancing: the hidden cost
Re-centering a position is not free. Each time you do it:
- You pay gas to withdraw, to swap if needed, and to create a new position.
- You swap at market prices, with slippage and the pool's fee.
- You lock in the impermanent loss you had on paper.
For small positions, a few rebalances can cost more than the fees you earned. Tight, active strategies only make sense on cheap networks and with enough size to justify the transactions.
Common mistakes
- Choosing the narrowest range because it "promises" the highest fees, then never checking it.
- Forgetting that a position out of range earns nothing.
- Confusing impermanent loss with the loss from the asset itself going down.
- Providing in a thin pool and being unable to exit.
- Chasing pools with a huge advertised yield (often a new token with almost no liquidity).
- Rebalancing every time the price twitches.
- Leaving old approvals active.
- Not writing down the position NFT numbers.
Records and taxes
Providing liquidity and collecting fees may create taxable events, and the treatment differs by country and over time. Keep records of dates, amounts, prices, transaction hashes and fees you collected. Ask a qualified professional about your own situation. Self-Quantum Liquidity does not give tax advice.
A simple starter plan
- Read the concepts and the security guide.
- Spend a week only reading pools and positions. Watch how prices and statuses change.
- Pick one liquid pair on a low-fee network and a wide range.
- Create one very small position and follow the create flow carefully. Revoke leftovers.
- Check it on a fixed schedule. Write down what you saw and what you did.
- Only then consider narrower ranges or larger sizes, one change at a time.
Quote to keep in mind from the Uniswap docs on returns: "There is a risk of losing money during large and sustained movement in the underlying asset price compared to simply holding an asset." The best protection is knowing that before you start.
These docs are educational. They are not financial, legal or tax advice. Providing liquidity carries risk, including loss of funds. Self-Quantum Liquidity is new software and has not been audited.